This invention relates to surgical instrument holders, and more particularly, to hand-held holders of rotary surgical cutting tools.
This invention relates to surgical instrument holders, and more particularly, to an instrument holder for a surgical instrument, comprising a shank equipped with a head designed to receive an instrument, and an annular locking component mounted so as to slide about the shank, under the head, equipped with locking means which cooperate with the head so as to lock the instrument on the head, and pushed against the head by a helical spring.
Surgical instruments and their respective holders have to be kept clean and sterile before any use in a hospital environment in order to minimize risk of transfer of disease or infection from patient to patient following the emergence of certain “prions” that are not killed by normal hospital sterilization and thus need to be physically removed through washing and rinsing. A surgical instrument, for example for preparing for the fitting of a hip prosthesis, works in a medium which causes considerable soiling of the instrument and of the instrument holder. Despite the importance of doing so, the thorough cleaning of these devices is difficult. Surgical instrument holders of the prior art are designed such that washing and rinsing are generally not an effective way of cleaning the instrument. This is due to the small spaces left between component parts which allow only minimal access by cleaning agents.
Instrument holders seeking to solve these problems include U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,658,290, 5,236,433, and 6,264,647 to the inventor, the contents of which are incorporated by reference. Such holders are designed to interface with a metal bar on an acetabular reamer, which is not conducive for use with disposable reamers in which the interface is insert molded of a plastic material. Further, the interface with such reamers is relatively large and therefore, limits the ability of the designer to provide a holder which is small and therefore more adapted for application in minimally invasive surgery.
Further, surgical instruments are generally improved when it is more readily apparent the state they are in, whether locked or unlocked.
What is needed therefore is a surgical instrument holder which is quickly and simply disassembled for cleaning and sterilization.
What is needed therefore is a surgical instrument holder adapted for interfacing with an insert-molded plastic base of a reamer.
What is needed therefore is a surgical instrument holder which is small and suitable for use in minimally invasive surgery.